#we can be better

[forgottendreamsss]

Divide and Conquer

That’s what the history books will say led to the success of the fascist American empire.

The American people were so busy fighting each other. Liberal vs. Conservative. Black vs. White. Rich vs. Poor. Able vs. Disabled. Christians vs. Atheists. Straight vs. Queer. Born Citizens vs. Immigrants.

These titles we’ve imposed upon ourselves are just lines they’ve drawn to trick us into thinking that we’re different. That were enemies. That there is a wrong and right within the American people, but the only thing wrong with this country is the people in charge. Our so called leaders profiting off the victimization of their own people.

“The land of the free” but the only ones actually free to do as they wish are the same ones promoting that propaganda. Most modern empires survive for a few hundred years before a revolution wipes the slate clean and those left get to try again, try to do better. America is long overdue for some change, this country has passed its expiration date. But the government has such a solid grip on its people, a grip that threatens more and more each day to snatch our final breaths right from our throats, that we can’t even imagine a world in which our voice matters. But it does, it’s the only thing that does, they have power because we let them, but it’s supposed to be an equal transaction, and yet most of us can barely afford to live while they spend our money on supporting genocide and senseless war.

And I’m sick of it. I’m so tired of feeling so useless, so voiceless, so small, when I know that our government would be nothing without us. They poison our air, our water, our food, our minds, all to keep us fat, sick, and dumb. But they forget that they would be nothing without us. They forget that the second we’re done with them and their ideals and rules, that it’s all over.

The American people need to wake up.

The American people need to take back their voice. The American people need to shout and get loud and say “No More.”

The American people need to take back their country, before it’s too late. Before there are no American people left. ✊🏾

#free palestine #free gaza #joe biden #revolt #freedom #fuck joe biden #fuck the gop #fuck war #rewrite history #there’s no time like the present #wake up #stand up #gaza #we can be better #divide and conquer #we’re stronger in numbers #fuck genocide

[pendragon1996]

Saw that whole take: “humans aren’t going to kill earth, we’re just going to make it unlivable for us.”

My guy, just because you’re still physically present doesn’t mean you’re alive. If you saw a corpse on the side of the road, that’s not alive.

If we wipe out life on earth, we have killed earth.

It’ll just be a corpse, left on the side of the road.

#oh Fuck this got dark #humans are a virus #we can be better #we must be better #earth is dying #she deserves better

[ihearthes]

.

#I get that people are excited to see Harry in the wild #and I understand the desire to take pictures to prove they saw him in the wold #wild #and I understand the need of certain UAs to post those photos of Harry #on his private time #when he’s not working #but that doesn’t mean we need to reblog them #we can be better #we can do better #we can treat Harry with kindness #and respect #jfc #how many of you want pictures of yourself posted on your vacation #without your permission? #end of rant

[the-gayest-sky-kid]

god i love my friends. shout out to people who love their friends. this is a post for friend lovers

#sorry i thought too hard about everything and got weirdly emotional like hgoly shit #i talk to people here every day and we know stuff about each other and shit and we exchange ideas and waaa #we're like all basically penpals but better #im realizing how revolutionary this is. like had we all been born earlier we never would have met #and even if we did we'd have to talk through letters with weeks if not months in between responses #can you imagine that #every day instead i literally wake up and my friends are there #insane #i love having friends

[endusviolence]

Rowling isn't denying holocaust. She just pointed out that burning of transgender health books is a lie as that form of cosmetic surgery didn't exist. But of course you knew that already, didn't you?

I was thinking I'd probably see one of you! You're wrong :) Let's review the history a bit, shall we?

In this case, what we're talking about is the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, or in English, The Institute of Sexology. This Institute was founded and headed by a gay Jewish sexologist named Magnus Hirschfeld. It was founded in July of 1919 as the first sexology research clinic in the world, and was run as a private, non-profit clinic. Hirschfeld and the researchers who worked there would give out consultations, medical advice, and even treatments for free to their poorer clientele, as well as give thousands of lectures and build a unique library full of books on gender, sexuality, and eroticism. Of course, being a gay man, Hirschfeld focused a lot on the gay community and proving that homosexuality was natural and could not be "cured".

Hirschfeld was unique in his time because he believed that nobody's gender was either one or the other. Rather, he contended that everyone is a mixture of both male and female, with every individual having their own unique mix of traits.

This leads into the Institute's work with transgender patients. Hirschfeld was actually the one to coin the term "transsexual" in 1923, though this word didn't become popular phrasing until 30 years later when Harry Benjamin began expanding his research (I'll just be shortening it to trans for this brief overview.) For the Institute, their revolutionary work with gay men eventually began to attract other members of the LGBTA+, including of course trans people.

Contrary to what Anon says, sex reassignment surgery was first tested in 1912. It'd already being used on humans throughout Europe during the 1920's by the time a doctor at the Institute named Ludwig Levy-Lenz began performing it on patients in 1931. Hirschfeld was at first opposed, but he came around quickly because it lowered the rate of suicide among their trans patients. Not only was reassignment performed at the Institute, but both facial feminization and facial masculization surgery were also done.

The Institute employed some of these patients, gave them therapy to help with other issues, even gave some of the mentioned surgeries for free to this who could not afford it! They spoke out on their behalf to the public, even getting Berlin police to help them create "transvestite passes" to allow people to dress however they wanted without the threat of being arrested. They worked together to fight the law, including trying to strike down Paragraph 175, which made it illegal to be homosexual. The picture below is from their holiday party, Magnus Hirschfeld being the gentleman on the right with the fabulous mustache. Many of the other people in this photo are transgender.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of a group of people. Some are smiling at the camera, others have serious expressions. Either way, they all seem to be happy. On the right side, an older gentleman in glasses- Magnus Hirschfeld- is sitting. He has short hair and a bushy mustache. He is resting one hand on the shoulder of the person in front of him. His other hand is being held by a person to his left. Another person to his right is holding his shoulder.]

There was always push back against the Institute, especially from conservatives who saw all of this as a bad thing. But conservatism can't stop progress without destroying it. They weren't willing to go that far for a good while. It all ended in March of 1933, when a new Chancellor was elected. The Nazis did not like homosexuals for several reasons. Chief among them, we break the boundaries of "normal" society. Shortly after the election, on May 6th, the book burnings began. The Jewish, gay, and obviously liberal Magnus Hirschfeld and his library of boundary-breaking literature was one of the very first targets. Thankfully, Hirschfeld was spared by virtue of being in Paris at the time (he would die in 1935, before the Nazis were able to invade France). His library wasn't so lucky.

This famous picture of the book burnings was taken after the Institute of Sexology had been raided. That's their books. Literature on so much about sexuality, eroticism, and gender, yes including their new work on trans people. This is the trans community's Alexandria. We're incredibly lucky that enough of it survived for Harry Benjamin and everyone who came after him was able to build on the Institute's work.

[Image ID: A black and white photo of the May Nazi book burning of the Institute of Sexology's library. A soldier, back facing the camera, is throwing a stack of books into the fire. In the background of the right side, a crowd is watching.]

As the Holocaust went on, the homosexuals of Germany became a targeted group. This did include transgender people, no matter what you say. To deny this reality is Holocaust denial. JK Rowling and everyone else who tries to pretend like this isn't reality is participating in that evil. You're agreeing with the Nazis.

But of course, you knew that already, didn't you?

Edit: Added image IDs. I apologize to those using screen readers for forgetting them. Please reblog this version instead.

#transgender #trans history #transsexual #transphobia #Magnus Hirschfeld #holocaust #holocaust denial #book burning #j.k. rowling #jk rowling #just in case you missed what i mean by all this: go fuck yourself anon :) #trans people have always existed #and we will always exist #if you really wanna pick a fight with me over well-documented history then you better bring in some sources to back your shit #queer history #queer #lgbt+ #lgbta+ #lgbt #lgbt history #edit: i finally got around to those damn image IDs. i am so very sorry for totally forgetting that's my bimbo moment of the month #also real quick i thought about adding an image of the actual building but the only one i can find has a Nazi parade in front of it #it was taken the day of the book burning raid and honestly if i were to include it then i'd add it to the first few paragraphs #and i think the story's better told when you uphold the hope Magnus Hirschfeld and all the researchers he worked with had #also keeps being brought up: yes Hirschfeld was a eugenicist. it was a popular belief set that was only discredited after WW2 #Hirschfeld died in 1935. he literally didn't live long enough to see science turn against those beliefs and practices #considering how he changed his mind on transitions i like to think he would've changed his mind on eugenics too if he'd lived

[andhumanslovedstories]

#hey look at me. we’re not gonna get better at budgeting or going to the gym. #we can do a one time burst of joyful bullshit

[bananonbinary]

also worth noting that "abusive" doesn't actually mean "irredeemable" either.

there's a lot of people that have done things in the past that were bad, because they weren't taught any better, or they were in an overall toxic situation where EVERYONE was shitty (like a cult), or they were just at an especially low point and hurt others for it.

you don't have to forgive them. you don't have to ever speak to them again. you can be angry with them until you die if you want.

but society cannot function if we don't allow them to move on. to change their behavior and fuck off somewhere else and build meaningful relationships without bothering you again. we need a path for people to change, or nothing ever will.

#like re: the last post #npd SHOULDNT mean 'youre an abusive person' #but also people who have abused people in the past can still become better people in the present #you know? #and as i metioned vaguely in that post. the way we currently treat people with NPD probably CAUSES THEM to lash out at and abuse others #if u abuse someone they lash back out at you and suddenly theres fun mutual abuse happening #so they need a way out of that cycle

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

not "i ship these characters" or "i want them to bond platonically" but a secret 3rd thing (I want them to be forced to interact by the Narrative bc they would HATE that)

#who needs romance when i can watch two narrative foils painfully tolerate each other's existence #bonus points if they are forced to Work Together To Solve A Problem #and they end up working surprisingly well together! #they make a surprisingly effective team! #they even confide some backstory with each other & bond a bit & understand each other better #and when it's all over they shake hands & amicably agree that they still cannot fucking stand each other #'this was an interesting sidequest & I'm glad we got to experience it. #but all things considered i genuinely never want to see your face again' #Enemies to Chained-Up-In-An-Abandoned-Bathroom-Together #to Enemies #two stray cats forced to share a cat carrier for a trip to the vet

[tippenfunkaport]

You know, it would be amazing if Hollywood learned the right lesson from the success of Nimona. Something like "Hey, maybe don't throw out a nearly done movie as a tax write off" or "people want queer stories" or even "don't be afraid to take some storytelling risks and be original" but you just know they're going to come away with some absolutely batshit takeaway like, "next time delete all the evidence and burn it to the ground so the gays can't make us look bad!"

#sorry to be cynical on main but all I can think of is instead of watching this and being like wow we made a huge mistake here #disney is just going to be mad because of how foolish this made them look #bc corporate america always learns exactly the wrong lesson #honestly hope I'm wrong and this humbles them and they do better #but also I am a realist #anyway go nimona kick 'em in chip and dale's nuts #nimona #nd stevenson #netflix #disney #oscar nominations #oscar nominee #hollywood

[andthebeanstalk]

Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".

Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"

And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".

Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.

At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.

So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!

Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!

Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!

Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.

#hlep #original #mental health #my sympathies and empathies to anyone who has to rely on this kind of hlep to get what they need. #the people in my life who most need to see this post are my family but even if they did I sincerely doubt they would internalize it #i've tried to break thru to them so many times it makes my head hurt. so i am focusing on boundaries and on finding other forms of support #and this thing i learned today helps me validate those boundaries. the example with the milk was from my therapist. #the example with the towing company was a real thing that happened with my parents a few months ago while I was age 28. 28! #a full adult age! it is so infantilizing as a disabled adult to seek assistance and support from ableist parents. #they were real mad i was mad tho. and the spoons i spent trying to explain it were only the latest in a long line of #huge family-related spoon expenditures. distance and the ability to enforce boundaries helps. haven't talked to sisters for literally the #longest period of my whole life. people really believe that if they love you and try to help you they can do no wrong. #and those people are NOT great allies to the chronically sick folks in their lives. #you can adore someone and still fuck up and hurt them so bad. will your pride refuse to accept what you've done and lash out instead? #or will you have courage and be kind? will you learn and grow? all of us have prejudices and practices we are not yet aware of. #no one is pure. but will you be kind? will you be a good friend? will you grow? i hope i grow. i hope i always make the choice to grow. #i hope with every year i age i get better and better at making people feel the opposite of how my family's ableism has made me feel #i will see them seen and hear them heard and smile at their smiles. make them feel smart and held and strong. #just like i do now but even better! i am always learning better ways to be kind so i don't see why i would stop

[imagiika]

Listen to the whispers of your heart,

And let them guide you to a brand new start,

For you are worthy, you are enough,

And all your dreams are within your clutch.

Don't listen to the demons in your mind,

Who try to tear you down and make you blind,

Their words are lies, their voice is cruel,

And they don't deserve a place in your world.

Instead, be kind to your inner child,

Who needs your love to grow and thrive,

Treat yourself softly, treat yourself well,

And watch your spirit begin to swell.

For you are a miracle, a work of art,

A shining star in a universe so vast,

So hold your head up high, and let your light shine,

And see the beauty that's always been inside.

So listen to the whispers of your heart,

And let them guide you to a brand new start,

For you are worthy, you are enough,

And all your dreams are within your clutch.

#poem #literature #mental health #positive #self help #we can be better

[aliosne]

Saw a post about working class butches in physical labour jobs and wanted to make my own, so: I love you butches who do childcare or early education. I love you butch nurses. I love you butch house cleaners and janitorial staff. I love you service industry butches. I love you butches who do sex work. I love you working class butches who do “feminine” jobs you are cool as hell

#butch #lgbtqia #lesbian #its me im butches doing stereotypically feminine work #when I was nannying full time I kind of thought of it as I was doing Nanny Gender #like especially bc I wore mostly dresses then for practicality reasons #which gave me The Dysphorias but yeah. my way of navigating that was to get a little fluid with it. #also even tho they don’t get perceived as such: all of these jobs are as physically demanding as many ‘physical’ jobs #like girly at least when I worked in a warehouse/delivery bay I got to sit down #look I could probably think of a better term than ‘physical labour’ but like. you know what I mean. #anyway. sometimes you have those I am uncomfortable when we are not about me moments #and then you remember that you can just go talk about your experience

[striving-artist]

Tumblr skews young, so let me just share this.

The worst thing you can do in a job is not be bad at something. It's to say you are great at something while being bad at something. If you need to improve and you're upfront that you're not the best, people will probably help or teach or explain. They will sympathize when you get put on a task you're not qualified for.

If you claim to be awesome at something when you demonstrably suck at it, all of that good will and sympathy is gone and it will not come back.

Confident is good. Stand up for yourself, know your skills.

But the other side of this is to Know your Faults.

This message brought to you by the 23yo who bragged about how he was great at X and had the best program for it, and I spent the weekend doing his job for him because he is so so bad at it, and only about 5% of what he did is salvageable.

#real life #can't overstate this #you're in better shape if you say you're not certain #if you go 'hey can you walk me through exactly what you want' #even if its just you saying 'I have never done this HERE can you help me be sure I'm doing it the way you want?' #confidence will get you the job #but if you lied? #its going to be years before we trust you again #and yes I work in a teeny tiny industry #so we will gossip and ruin your chances for a longgggg time #but even in larger fields #office jobs love to gossip

[fairuzfan]

Thinking you can "help" by donating to NGOs as the end all be all is particularly insulting because:

1) my family, and many Palestinian diaspora families, have been donating to Palestinian charities for years and look at where we are at now (ie, the systematic violence has not been addressed AND we already have been consistently donating to make a difference, contrary to what people on here claim we aren't doing)

2) reframing this as a humanitarian issue rather than a systematic violence where a people are occupied by a colonial force

By all means, donate to charities I'm not going to say they're not necessary. They absolutely are. I donate to Palestinian Children's Relief Fund myself. It's a cause near and dear to my heart. However, monetary support and a hands off approach only goes so far and does not address systematic issues that communities face. If all we do is donate, we succumb to an endless spiral of reactive responses to violence rather than preventative.

NGOs are great but to say "just donate" and then ignore the issue completely is incredibly harmful. Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are PLEADING for you to take action, get involved, spread information. So find your niche and please help! Make art! Attend protests! Hell, even reblogging posts with the intent to educate is useful.

Remember, our goal is short term AND long term liberation! So keep Palestine on your mind! Keep Tigray on your mind! Congo! Kashmir! We need to remember that the world we live in is not ok but it could be BETTER!!!

#we can do it everyone! #we can make a better world!!! #palestine

[trans-axolotl]

saw a post the other day that said that psych survivors were overexaggerating and fearmongering for saying that people should be aware that having diagnoses on your record can be a danger + impede your life. and the more i think about it the more annoyed i am. because i think people need to know that there are exceptions to health privacy laws that can make having psych diagnoses and psych hospitalization history on your record risky depending on your circumstances. diagnoses follow you through your health interactions-you do not have to consent to have your information shared between providers. judicial proceedings are also an exception to the HIPAA privacy rule, so for things like custody battles, guardianship, getting orders of protection--the court can petition for medical records. there's so many other situations where even if they can't legally access your information without your authorization, people will require you to disclose diagnoses, records, previous hospitalizations and refuse to give you services/hire you/whatever unless you share that information with them. for example in many states anyone (a provider, a cop, friends and family) can disclose that you have certain psych diagnoses like bipolar to the DMV which then might require that you undergo drivers license review as frequently as every 3 months. my university is actively trying to kick me out right now because i had to disclose my medical record, psych diagnoses, and hospitalization history to them as a requirement to stay enrolled.

and i don't want to scare people or make people think that having a diagnosis on their records is automatically going to mean that it is weaponized against us. because i do know plenty of people who have never faced issues with their records. but i do expect that the community supports the people speaking out about the ways that we have been harmed by diagnoses creating barriers to accessing necessary parts of our life. instead of attacking us or saying that we're lying about things we are currently experiencing.

#personal #antipsych #antipsychiatry #mad pride #mad liberation #saneism #it's just like. i think we need to be realistic! and not deny people who are literally talking about things happening to them #and also allow people who have the option. to make informed choices about seeking diagnosis #bc for many of us that isn't up to us. but if you are considering seeking formal diagnosis. there can absolutley be some good and helpful #things that come from that! im not denying that at all! but there's also some negatives #and i think also like. if people refuse to acknowlege the ways this is structurally a problem #how are we going to make it better so that we don't have to deal with thsi stuff

[imnot-confused]

my friend sent me a tiktok of a joe rogan interview with kanye west. i couldn't tell when it was released, but it very obviously wasn't a recent video. in it, kanye basically spoke about how modern media rewrites true meanings behind black history and all we get are terrible reminders during black history month. and it got me thinking- maybe a little too much because i started tearing up, but out of frustration. why are we only told, over and over and over, about the god awful experiences of black people? not that these should be forgotten, but we are more than our trials and tribulations. for me personally, it's at the point where i can't pass any history class because all we talk about is slavery. literally.

i had a lab last year and it was just slavery and policing. for the whole semester. i only attended about four classes before i gave up to keep my sanity intact. i don't know if i can sit through another lecture talking about the torture my ancestors and people went through. i don't want to hear about the dehumanization of those who look like me anymore. we are so much more than our awful history. there truly is beauty to our culture, but it gets brushed under the rug and i hate that. i hate that other people can only think of black history as slavery and civil rights movements. i hate that black families continue to lose older traditions simply due to a lack of knowledge. i hate that our black kids can't also hear about our beauty in school. again, i don't want us (or anyone) to disregard the tragedies and i understand how said tragedies brought us where we are. but here's the thing: i know that. my brothers and parents know that. my cousins and friends already innately understand that. but not everyone truly grasps that. ESPECIALLY in places like texas. you think little tony, with his racist grandparents and tired parents, can grasp that without proper schooling?

what i'm trying to say is, school curriculums could do a whole lot of good by humanizing us. stop depicting us as battered and bruised tools. we are more than the awful situations we were forced into. imagine what progress could be made if non-black students were able to also see us as "people in an awful situation, trying their damnedest to have the best human experience possible" instead of just "people in a constant fight against societies, trying to gain respect". both are true, but with the addition of the former we don't seem like these tragic oddities.

sorry for ranting. i don't want this to seem like i'm angry, and i don't want anger to be the focus. i'm just frustrated. i want my history to stop being viewed as an exhibit. i know there's been a ton of shocking events, but we have even more cool shit. if only that was the focus. imagine that 💜

#black history month #black history matters #do better #i want better #we can be better